Last Sunday marked the first stop of our ‘Lost Cause Flash Tattoo Tour’ at Vagabond Tattoo Studio. We headed out from our hometown of Birmingham down south to London early Sunday morning with discount codes and stickers in hand. What we saw as we drove down the Hackney Road and pulled up outside Vagabond was insane. The first thing to grab our attention was resident Artist Paul Hill's 1979 Porsche 911 SC parked up in front of the shop and then we looked up. It was 11:50 AM, the doors were yet to open & the queue went down the street.
Artists: Paul Hill (@paulhilltattooer), Juanjo Rangel (@jaytats.ebs), Rose Harley (@rose_tattoo), Leti Mortimer (@letimortimertattoo) & Marcus Fam (@famtattooer)
We stood inside with the artists looking out at the crowd of people standing in the cold waiting to come in and get inked. Both ourselves and the tattooists at Vagabond put a huge amount of effort into this event- so it’s fair to say the wait was tense. As the doors opened, however, we were quickly reassured (or just too busy); customer after customer came flooding in eager to claim their favourite flash design. Within 20 minutes each individual artist was fully booked, to the point where we were having to turn people away.
This was not only the first stop of the tour, but the first ever flash day held by Vagabond & it could not have gone better. Each individual artist got their heads down creating clean traditional & blackwork pieces- having decided to donate any proceeds made on the day to their chosen charities - Cancer Research UK, The Big Warm Up; helping support for the homeless & Skate Pal; who work to enhance the lives of Palestinian children through skateboarding.
As the crowds began to die down and customers left and returned for their appointments, the chilled out vibe that the Vagabond team have created also returned. Customers lay back chatting, there was the almost therapeutic buzz of the guns and a short motorcycle film ‘Halfway To Nowhere’ by Australian filmmaker Tim Caraco (timo_tigerblood) was playing in the background.
If you didn’t make it to Vagabond last Sunday it’s definitely worth a visit. The shop itself makes the trip worthwhile; with its flash & artwork emblazoned walls, original beams and the Jawa in the window. And the talent & professionalism of the artists- well that’s something else.
Thank you again to the Vagabond team for allowing us to takeover and everyone that came down. Next stop The Los Angles River Tattoo Co. on the 16th- if you’re coming down get there early. It’s gonna be a good one.
See ‘The Lost Cause Flash Tattoo Tour’ for upcoming dates.
More photos below…..